THE MAGNIFICENT – THE MAGNIFICENT 

Frontiers Records

Released November 2011

Tracklist:
Holding On To Your Love
Cheated By Love
Memories
Angel
Satin & Lace
Love’s On The Line
Bullets
Smoke & Fire
Tired Of Dreaming
If It Takes All Night
Lost
Harvest Moon

Well this is a nice surprise on a wet and windy November morning.  And unlike some reviewers I’ll not bother with the lineage of those involved in this release except to say that the project features the great voice of Circus Maximus’ Michael Eriksen and two parts of Brother Firetribe involved in the writing.

Opening track ‘Holding On To Your Love’ says it all really, slick velvet vocals, beautiful melodies and perfectly formed melodic grooves. The Magnificent is just one of those albums that you know will deliver from the first track. I’m not disappointed, and even though 2011 has been a very good year for Melodic Rock (so much so that my Best of 2011 has a very Melodic slant this year, which is unusual for me) this is one of the VERY best, and not just of 2011.

There are some great tracks here and amongst the best for me is the slick, driving and very harmonious ‘Cheated by Love’ that follows. You could argue that lyrically we are firmly in the world of ‘lost love’ but then what is the best melodic rock about if it’s not about kings, castles and sorcery?  

Two views of this kind of melodic rock are equally valid – the first that this music is timeless and the second that it is rooted will in past decades. Both opinions are largely irrelevant – you either like it or you don’t. Personally I’ve always had an issue with keyboards in any kind of music – it dates music so effectively. It’s refreshing here then to say that the keyboards of Jukka Karinen really so compliment the songs.

‘Memories’ is a lush, sugary rush of melody that you would be hard pushed to top this year or any year. And ‘Angel’ is one of those songs that tugs at the strings of the hardest of hearts and plants the smallest of tears in the corner of your eye….

Harder edged (no don’t worry it doesn’t go harder edged as much as less soft-edged) ‘Satin and Lace’, and the magnificent 'Lost' add a bit of pomp-stomp to the mix.

By the time Love’s On the Line’ hits you know there won’t be a bad track on here, and even if you feel that you’ve heard the lyrics a million times before the package doesn’t fail.  Not a bad track on the album. I could listen to this all day.

 A must for fans of Journey and Europe at their most melodious…

By Mark Diggins